Another miserable night trying to sleep with all this hacking and coughing. I actually was feeling things were getting better...no, nada, no way. Today there are no tours, just a free day to visit this magnificent city. Problem is it's raining, so I decide to go back to sleep after being awake again at 6AM, and let the rain slow up. At about 9;30 I'm up and the rain is even harder. I make my way down to the lobby to get breakfast and notice the hotel is emptier since yesterday. I ask the bellman where everyone was and he said Japanese do not take any personal days off for vacation. Japanese businesses tend to take the same holidays as vacation for employee families. Yesterday, the last day of the month, was the final day of a designed holiday of prayer and ancestor recognition. Seems us tourists are the only ones left in the hotel. I should mention at this time I meet some wonderful people on my trip. A couple form Scotland that were quite a hoot. They insisted that I bring my mom and I to Scotland next May. Also Dr. Michael McGinniss, President Emeritus from LaSalle University. The four of us chummed up a few times during our trip. Also, Dr. McGinniss, was a former President at Christian Brothers University in Memphis. I bring this up because I remember one of JD's soccer teammates Jake Aycock was going there on a soccer scholarship. He actually remembered Jake.
Well it is still raining and I decide to do a walk about anyway. One of the features of the central part of Kyoto is a very large tower called ...Kyoto Tower. The tower was originally built to be in time for the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, but didn't get completed until a few months after. The tower was also not popular with the local religious groups because they felt it counteracted the image of Kyoto being an easy going religious and spiritual retreat. The tower they felt was an "eyesore" of such. The locals recognized the concern and decided to built it to look little a candle. Candles of course are found through shrines and temples as a sign of spirituality. The finished product does look like a candle of some sort, but I'm not sure if this totally was accepted by the local religious community.
I walk to the tower but I can not see the top due to low clouds from the rain that is still falling. As I cross the street to get some free information on the tower, I see a Starbuck's. That made my day. I hadn't drank any coffee in about 2 weeks, just tea. And I hadn't any Starbucks since Amsterdam. That grande bold with real cream tasted mighty fine.
As I was finishing off my brew, I noticed the rain had stopped and the sun was trying to break through the clouds. I'm trying to decide if Im going up the elevator to the top of Kyoto Tower...nada, no, no way. Heights are just absolutely teriffying to me. I had been eyeing a Pachinko parlor across the street and decide to see what the hype was all about. Pachinko parlors are extremely noise. The place reminds me of slot machines areas of a casino. The machine itself is like an upright pinball machine, usually round, but there are no flippers. Tiny balls within the machine are released and depending where they land or what they bump into can cause more balls to be released. So the object is to try and collect as many balls as possible. You trade your balls in for prizes or gifts. Apparently this is a very additive game because there are phone numbers on the wall for addicts to go for help and counseling.
I walk a little further and come across an area that is famous for making some of the more elegant kimonos in the world. This area also is a "garment" district, with tons of speciality stores primarily geared toward women. I find a store and walk in and find Im the only male in this store with about 20 customers. I try to do the cool and look as intently as I can, but a nice sales clerk that spoke pretty good English asked if she could help. I said I was just curious. She then took the next ten minutes to explain the kimono and told me about a free kimono show that was about to take place a couple of doors down. So I left the store and headed to the building location. The place looked and seemed like the Kimono Hall of Fame, with pictures of famous Japanese kimono wearers. Im approached by another young lady who asks if I was here for the show and I said yes. She politely lead me to a medium size auditorium that had a modeling runway in the middle. She guided me to a seating area a few rows from the stage. My area were only men. Seems the men are corralled to a certain area, as the rest of the crowd are made up of women of all ages. The show was pretty neat, unfortunately no cameras or video taping were allowed.
After my kimono experience I decide to get back to the hotel, gather my two small bags that are in storage and get to the train station. The white bullet shaped train arrived right on time, 6:55PM There was to be no transfer of trains, like coming out, but there were many stops along the way. We pull into Tokyo's "grand central station". at about 9:45PM. The place where I'm to stay tonight in Ginza is only a mile away, while the Hilton Hotel, where all my bigger bags are in storage, is about a 30 minute bus ride. I would then have to lug those two big bags over to the subway station and make my way back to this spot. So I decide I will get the big bags tomorrow. I find a cab give him the directions and he drops me right in front of the building. I gather my things, take the elevator to the fifth floor and find room #503. This place is very Spartan but it was expected. It has two full beds that take up about 1/3 of the room. There is a desk/chair, small couch, a rack for hanging clothes, small bathroom, and a kitchen/stove combo. This will work.
Its about 11:30 and Im starved, so I go out hoping to find a late night place, but everything is closed. But, I do find a 7-11, it actually is a 7-11, but without the Slurpees. I walk around and pick out dinner: pineapple chunks, banana, blueberry yogurt (which I found out was more like liquid yogurt), bag of tomato chips, small package of salami and cheese slices and to wash it all down SAKE. I get my midnight meal back to the room. I can't decide if I'm more hungry, tired, or miserable from this bronchitis. It stakes me about 10 minutes to finish my meal. Since there are two beds, like Goldielocks, I try the first one, "it's too hard", the next one "it's too soft". I'll take the soft one. Good night until I venture the subways to the Hilton to get my luggage. Before I started my meal, I decided to take double dose of my medications: 4 Tylenol, 2 Japanese labeled anti-histamines, 4 Vitamin C tablets and to top it off I'm taking 1 hydrocodeine tablet. I bought those in case I had an accident from my newly reconstructed ankle. So far the ankle has been working perfectly. I'll either die or get a good nights rest.
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